It is common in vehicles to include cup holders or container holders for supporting cups, cans, or other beverage containers in a vehicle. There are several single sized cup holders available which hold only a single sized container, along with variable sized container holders for allowing containers of varied dimensions. Such a variable dimension cup holder is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,111, issued Jul. 24, 1990, in the name of VanderLaan. The patent discloses a container holder which is stored in an armrest and pivoted to its use position. A container support slides relative to another side such that facing surfaces can engage opposite sides of different diameter containers.
There are also know to be cup holders which vertically extend and retract to support a container. Representative of such cup holders is U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,194 issued Aug. 25, 1992, in the name of Burgess, et al. The patent discloses a retractable container holder which is stored in an upright, flat pocket and has four hinged plates which open into an inverted triangle shape, the top of which has apertures for receiving containers in the sides of plates which are also apertured to allow container to stand on a flat base.
It is desirable to include a cup holder design which can accommodate different sized containers and extend upright from a horizontal surface.